Monthly Archives: May 2008

Back from a 5 day trip to Bali which was very enjoyable. It is such a culturally strong place and I thoroughly enjoyed myself basking in the sun surfing the waves and immersed in Balinese culture which is strongly influenced by Hindu culture.

At the same time I was in Bali, the 29th World Amateur Go Championship (WAGC) is being held in Japan and Zaid Zulklifi is representing Malaysia in this top Go event of the year. Last year Boon Ping went and achieved a very good result and Zaid looks like doing quite good after the first 3 rounds. He is ranked 5 dan and have been playing Go for only the past 5 years. As such his achievement is rather good after picking up the game while studying in London. Read his own account of how he started playing Go here: http://msiago.wordpress.com/

As for myself, I am now in the midst of preparing myself for the Beijing Go event this October and begin to start to study and play more seriously. Have been slacking for the past couple of years or so. Am now working on the Train Like A Pro series and replaying pro games, plus games on KGS (under a new name so no one will recognise me and interrupt my games and/or start to comment on my moves which most of the time I don’t think is valid comment and uncalled for). I hope to achieve 4dan with this new KGS account by this October.

On yet another note on Go, there is a couple of “tests” designed by a Alexander Dinerchtein, a Russian Pro with a ranking of 3danprofessional from Korea. One is a test on an estimate of your Go strength and the other is a test on your Go playing style.

*****
Thank you! Your score is 148 from 200.
You are about European 1-dan (you can convert this grade to other ranking-systems by using this table )

Please don’t be disappointed if this mark is lower than your real grade.
We were mainly trying to test your understanding of the game.

Your actual rank depends on your reading skill, your ability to make decisions under time pressure, your state of health and many other factors.

*****

Based on the rough estimate of Go strengths, European 1 dan is more or less equivalent to Japanese 4dan, American Go Association’s 3dan and KGS 2dan. This looks like about right but when we discuss on Go strength, it is always an estimate and like the disclaimer in the test above, it really depends on your reading skills and decision making under pressure.

Your Go style is flexible: you can play for territory as well as for influence.
Usually you make such decisions according to the whole-board situation or the playing style of your opponent.

You may force him to choose the strategy he hates. For example, if he likes moyos, you can play for influence yourself, just for making him angry.

Your Go style is actually the best one.

You may improve your Go by studying different things, but I suggest paying attention on yose and positional judgment.

*****

Sounds like the test is quite accurate but that i probably because it says my style is actually the best one. But the truth is that the suggestion that I should pay more attention to yose (end game moves) hits right on the point. I have a huge problem wrapping up a won game.

Well, sounds like a lot more to do before hitting 4dan on KGS by this October (i.e. roughly equivalent to European 3dan, Japanese 5-6dan and American 5dan).

Halfway into this movie, three things come to my mind. First is Citizen Kane. Second is Mao Tse-dong and third is Amir Muhammad. Of course many other things got my mind to work, and movies like this one is great because it sets my mind free. It let’s me ponder on history, philosophy, politics, economics, film techniques, aesthetics, all at once. And by this, I mean real history, real politics, not some imagined settings which are not only biased but totally wrong.

There are not many Polish directors that are well known. One can actually count them with one hand. Roman Polanski is Polish but I don’t consider his movies really Polish, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Andrzej Wajda, Agnieszka Holland, Krzysztof Zanussi. Anymore that one knows, one then can be considered a learned world movie buff (actually there are a couple more names that should be quite familiar to people who digs world movies). These bunch of directors made some really interesting and good movies, including Polanski. Here’s a sample:

Wajda: ASHES AND DIAMONDS; A GENERATION; LANDSCAPE AFTER BATTLE; MAN OF MARBLE

Holland: EUROPA, EUROPA; A WOMAN ALONE

Zanussi: YEAR OF THE QUIET SUN; CAMOUFLAGE; POSSESSION

In fact, Wajda’s new film, KATYN, actually made it to the nominee list in the recent Oscars, so one should be quite familiar with him (in fact, I was offered the acquisition of the rights to KATYN and THE DECALOGUE plus a few other Polish movies, so stay tuned to the channel).

MAN OF MARBLE is about a young lady, Agnieszka (Krystyna Janda), who is making her diploma film and picks a subject that interests her but the “authorities” would rather forget (reminds me of Amir Muhammad). Told in the CITIZEN KANE style, her subject is a person, Mateusz Birkut (Jerzy Radziwilowicz), a bricklayer who has been identified by the authorities to be used as propaganda tool to show the people the power of the labourers and the potential growth and prosperity of the nation under Stalinist rule. However, Birkut soon fell into disfavour and is then conveniently forgotten. Agnieszka is interested to know what happened to Birkut and went all out to look for witnesses and the people involved to get a true picture of this once hero. As she went further into the investigation, the authorities put an end to her work and stopped her from using the camera and films. Once steely and determined, we finally see her breaking down in the presence of her father who encouraged her to go locate where Birkut is now. Encouraged, she found his son and got to know what happened to Birkut.

This film is a study on the Polish society under Stalinist rule and how they manipulate and create icons and idols to support their political agenda. We see the same thing happening in Communist China under Mao Tse-dong as well, where a particular common citizen is chosen to be the example to the whole country. Sometimes, whole towns are made model-towns for propaganda purposes. Propaganda songs are sung everywhere (one particular song actually mentioned Malaysia, I think it is talking about Ching Peng’s struggle in Malaya – that gives an idea on what era this film is set). At the end, Wadja showed us how he reconstructed a made icon and found a man whose only objective is to be honest and work for the welfare of the people but is a sad victim of political propaganda and agenda, and then had to live a broken life which he didn’t really recover from.

Wajda is widely acknowledged as to be the forerunner of a new generation of Polish filmmakers after the second world war and shortly after Stalin’s death, made his first movie A GENERATION. The movie is a marked move away from the propagandist films made before and Wajda continued to push the boundaries further and further with his next movies such ASHES AND DIAMONDS. Together with Zanussi, they sort of started a movement called “Cinema of Moral Concern” with the expressed objective of morally examining modern Polish history and and modern Polish life.

MAN OF MARBLE is a truly fascinating film. Watch it if you can and if you are interested in history, politics, movies, you will love this film.

Talking about Andrzej Wajda, it reminds me of an incident which is very funny and which I still remember to this day. In fact, this is one of the many, many incidences like this which truly brightens up my day. We have this so-called, often self-appointed and self-projected illusion, movie expert in the company and this person needs to be seen as knowing everything about movies, especially in front of the bosses. We were having dinner, with the boss of course, and a movie came up in the conversation when we were talking about movie censorship in Malaysia. The movie is PROMISED LAND and apparently it was banned in Malaysia. When the boss asks which movie is that, the person, who obviously doesn’t know about the movie, struggles and spoke some crap and I came in and ask if it is Andrzej Wajda’s THE PROMISED LAND. This person, in the trademark move, blinks the eyes continuously and said yes yes, it is Andrzej Wajda’s movie (pronouncing Wajda’s name exactly the same way I pronounced which amused me big time).

There are many moments that happened in the course of my work here with this person and whenever I caught that person bullshitting (which is a lot of times and characterised by an incessant blinking of the eyes and/or looking at other people around the table for rescue, and then giggle then change topic) I find myself laughing loud inside and definitely made my day.

So with this, here’s some notes on Wajda’s MAN OF MARBLE, a very remarkable film.

Man of Marble, 1977

(Czlowiek z marmuru)

dir: Andrzej Wajda

Halfway into this movie, three things come to my mind. First is Citizen Kane. Second is Mao Tse-dong and third is Amir Muhammad. Of course many other things got my mind to work, and movies like this one is great because it sets my mind free. It let’s me ponder on history, philosophy, politics, economics, film techniques, aesthetics, all at once. And by this, I mean real history, real politics, not some imagined settings which are not only biased but totally wrong.

There are not many Polish directors that are well known. One can actually count them with one hand. Roman Polanski is Polish but I don’t consider his movies really Polish, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Andrzej Wajda, Agnieszka Holland, Krzysztof Zanussi. Anymore that one knows, one then can be considered a learned world movie buff (actually there are a couple more names that should be quite familiar to people who digs world movies). These bunch of directors made some really interesting and good movies, including Polanski. Here’s a sample:

Wajda: ASHES AND DIAMONDS; A GENERATION; LANDSCAPE AFTER BATTLE; MAN OF MARBLE

Holland: EUROPA, EUROPA; A WOMAN ALONE

Zanussi: YEAR OF THE QUIET SUN; CAMOUFLAGE; POSSESSION

In fact, Wajda’s new film, KATYN, actually made it to the nominee list in the recent Oscars, so one should be quite familiar with him (in fact, I was offered the acquisition of the rights to KATYN and THE DECALOGUE plus a few other Polish movies, so stay tuned to the channel).

MAN OF MARBLE is about a young lady, Agnieszka (Krystyna Janda), who is making her diploma film and picks a subject that interests her but the “authorities” would rather forget (reminds me of Amir Muhammad). Told in the CITIZEN KANE style, her subject is a person, Mateusz Birkut (Jerzy Radziwilowicz), a bricklayer who has been identified by the authorities to be used as propaganda tool to show the people the power of the labourers and the potential growth and prosperity of the nation under Stalinist rule. However, Birkut soon fell into disfavour and is then conveniently forgotten. Agnieszka is interested to know what happened to Birkut and went all out to look for witnesses and the people involved to get a true picture of this once hero. As she went further into the investigation, the authorities put an end to her work and stopped her from using the camera and films. Once steely and determined, we finally see her breaking down in the presence of her father who encouraged her to go locate where Birkut is now. Encouraged, she found his son and got to know what happened to Birkut.

This film is a study on the Polish society under Stalinist rule and how they manipulate and create icons and idols to support their political agenda. We see the same thing happening in Communist China under Mao Tse-dong as well, where a particular common citizen is chosen to be the example to the whole country. Sometimes, whole towns are made model-towns for propaganda purposes. Propaganda songs are sung everywhere (one particular song actually mentioned Malaysia, I think it is talking about Chin Peng’s struggle in Malaya – that gives an idea on what era this film is set). At the end, Wadja showed us how he reconstructed a made icon and found a man whose only objective is to be honest and work for the welfare of the people but is a sad victim of political propaganda and agenda, and then had to live a broken life which he didn’t really recover from.

Wajda is widely acknowledged as to be the forerunner of a new generation of Polish filmmakers after the second world war and shortly after Stalin’s death, made his first movie A GENERATION. The movie is a marked move away from the propagandist films made before and Wajda continued to push the boundaries further and further with his next movies such ASHES AND DIAMONDS. Together with Zanussi, they sort of started a movement called “Cinema of Moral Concern” with the expressed objective of morally examining modern Polish history and and modern Polish life.

MAN OF MARBLE, one of the films from the “cinema of moral concern” movement, is a truly fascinating film. Watch it if you can and if you are interested in history, politics, movies, you will love this film.

The Indonesian film industry has seen some dark days, with annual film releases reaching a low of only about 12 movies in 2003. However, since then, the number of productions have increased, from 31 titles in 2004 to 50 and 60 titles in 2005 and 2006 respectively. It has then maintained at around that level in 2007. This industry cycle has been sustained mainly by romantic teen movies, starting from the fire that was started by the movie ADA APA DENGAN CINTA (2002) which broke box office records with a total admission exceeding 2.5 million tickets followed by EIFFEL I’M IN LOVE (2003) with a total admission exceeding 3 million tickets. Since then, teenage romance movies ruled the box office, with more than one third of all movies released in the cinemas belonging to this genre.

However, the year 2007 is a landmark year for the recent Indonesian industry. There are three main events that demarcates this year from the previous years. These are:

1. About 30 Citra Awards (Piala Citra) was returned as a protest for the Best Film award that went to the movie EKSKUL, directed by Nayato Fio Nuala. The Citra Awards is the top movie event of the year and the reason for this protest is that EKSKUL has violated music copyrights by ripping off music from movies such as GLADIATOR, MUNICH and TAEGUKGI. This is a tip of the iceberg situation where the government’s inability to control piracy and regulate the film industry is the key target point. These filmmakers that protested later formed the Masyarakat Film Indonesia (Indonesia Film Society) and its purpose is to demand that the government return the regulatory issues back to the film community, from censorship laws (moving towards the classification system) to the revoking of laws regulating the film industry, UU Film. The MFI is led by a team of progressive filmmakers, being Mira Lesmana, Riri Riza, Nia diNata, et. al. As such, the formation of the MFI is a key milestone in Indonesian filmmaking where the community has spoken and taken on their own hands the key decisions and regulations involving their industry. To date, this is still a battle.

2. The year 2007 saw the end of the dominance of the cinema chain controlled by the Group 21. For many years, the country’s exhibition industry has been dominated by the Group 21 and they have the ultimate say in the film’s theatrical distribution economics. As you will realise, this monopoly is not good for the industry and is also a reason why many key statistics and information such as box office numbers for movies are so hard to get, even by the major distributors themselves. This end of domination is foretold by the establishment of the Blitz cineplexes in Bandung and Jakarta (two locations in Jakarta now). Although this cinema chain is still relatively small, Group 21 has taken quite an offense by it and started taking its own counter measures such as the reduction in ticket prices as well as upgrading cinemas or building new cinemas that is posh and comfortable. Cinema going has definitely changed from mere entertainment to a lifestyle and the Blitz cineplexes saw this and capitalised on this change in lifestyle. They promised more of these cinemas in the future, cinemas that not only is part of the lifestyle of the young (teenagers and first-jobbers) but also cinemas that brings in intelligent and interesting foreign movies for more variety. This is definitely a very interesting development in Indonesia.

3. Teenage romantic movies have dominated Indonesian cinemas for many years now but from 2007, we see an end to this and is replaced by the horror genre. If more than one third of movies produced before 2007 are teenage romance flicks, now more than one third of the movies are horror movies. Horror flicks such as POCONG, KUNTILANAK, have all scored big at the box office and this horror trend do not seem to be seeing a sunset anytime soon although the recent release of AYAT AYAT CINTA, a movie with religious themes, again broke box office records, selling almost 3 million tickets in three weeks.

Besides the above, it is worth mentioning that Indonesia has seen some really good quality movies in recently, such as Garin Nugroho’s OPERA JAWA, Nia diNata’s BERBAGI SUAMI, Riri Riza’s TIGA HARI UNTUK SELAMANYA, Joko Anwar’s KALA, CHANTS OF LOTUS (directed by an ensemble of female directors – Nia diNata, Upi Avianto, Fatimah Rony and Lasja Susatyo) and Dimas Djayadiningrat’s QUICKIE EXPRESS which is written by Joko Anwar.

In 2008, one can expect another wave of interesting movies and these are BABI BUTA YANG INGIN TERBANG by debutant but acclaimed shorts director Edwin. The movie is about the story between two Indonesian Chinese friends who had to deal with the racial tensions in urban Indonesia. Rudy Soedjarwo’s IN THE NAME OF LOVE is also a movie to look out for. Do remember that he is the one that gave us ADA APA DENGAN CINTA. Also on the plate is Riri Riza’s and Mira Lesmana’s LASKAR PELANGI, an adaptation of the hugely popular novel by the same name.

In short, the current Indonesian film industry is uptrend and is vibrant. Expect some really good stuffs coming out of Indonesia.

I have been avoiding to do this for a long time because in principle I do not like to mix my personal blog with work. But the setting up of the channel website is taking a lifetime for reasons I cannot understand, so maybe once in a while, I can blog about the channel’s programming highlights. There are over 100 movies played on the channel every month, of which about 20% of them are fresh titles and the balance 80% repeat titles. Out of this 20% fresh titles, there is about 4-8 titles every month that is the key highlight and these titles are further programmed in a way that will appeal to a large target market, from the aunties to the young, from urban to rural. So here it is:

A. For those who loves to watch locally made Malay movies:

1. HARU BIRU – a Que Haidar drama action. It didn’t make a lot of money in the box office but this movie deals with the social problems in Malaysia and the spoils of youth in contemporary Malay society. I will consider this a relatively high grade Malay movie compared to some other dumb but more successful movies in the box office.

Premieres 4th May. Repeats: 9, 13, 19, 25,31 May.

2. ZOMBI KAMPUNG PISANG – this is a wonderful movie from director Mamat Khalid. A comedy which is more of a social satire and B-grade movie spoofs, it is a very smart and well made movie with an ensemble cast headed by Awie, who, in my personal opinion, is a more talented comic actor (as seen in BAIK PUNYA CILOK) rather than a macho romantic as in SEMBILU.

Premieres 9pm 18 May. Repeats: 23, 27 May.

I will consider the above two movies the better made of the local Malay movie crop of craps.

B. For those who loves a more “niche” type of movies (which more me means more intellectually stimulating type):

1. SANCTUARY – a movie by Malaysian Ho Yuhang of which I have previously reviewed on my website. Go there to read more. Yuhang is one of the more talented local filmmakers. Although sometimes loud-mouthed, he is smart, intellectually disciplined and has some sense of humour that is lacking in many other filmmakers.

Premieres: 7th May. Repeats: 17, 20, 26 May.

2. HOLIDAY DREAMING – this movies hails from Taiwan, a land where the local film industry has been suffering for a long time from the onslaught of Hollywood movies but is recently seeing a revival.

2. ANTHONY KAUN HAI – translates as Who is Anthony, this movie by Sanjay Dutt (Sanju Baba) is an action comedy. Sanjay Dutt is quite a good actor and seeing him in LAGE RAHO MUNA BHAI is really fun, for example. We see his normal fun and charm in ANTHONY KAUN HAI as well.

D. For Hong Kong/Japanese/Korean movie lovers:

1. DOG BITE DOG – Edison Chen (heh heh!!) acting in this action thriller. Sam Lee is good in this movie. But beware, the intense action may upset your stomach.

Premiere: 16 May. Repeats: 21, 26 May.

2. 200 POUNDS BEAUTY – A very entertaining Korean Rom-com. Good movie to watch to unwind after a day of work.

Premiere: 10 May. Repeats: 13, 21, 29 May.

3. THE GREAT YOKAI WAR – by the ever great Takashi Miike, this action-fantasy is a welcome change from Miike’s who is more well known for his violent flicks (although this is not entirely true).

Premiere: 17 May. Repeats: 20, 28 May.

For more comprehensive synopsis, please Google them or search on IMDB.

The above movies will be my pick if you ask me for a handful of movies to look out for in the channel.

Thailand has in the past few years made its mark as the post production hub in Asia, with post production companies like Kantana, Siam Lab, Cinecolor Lab etc. achieving international standards and at the same time, able to offer these services at a relatively lower cost. Many production companies in this region has their post production work done in Thailand and a lot of laboratory work is done there as well due to quality as well as cost considerations. It also helps that the government requires that all movies that is shown in Thailand need to have their release prints coming out of a Thai lab. With all these factors, many international distribution companies print their release prints in Thailand for theatrical distribution in the region.

However, as far as the Thai film industry is concerned, the picture is not as rosy. Production has gone down to only about 48 titles as year in 2003 and 2004 and dipped further to 37 in 2005 but finally got back up to 45 titles in 2006 and finally to about 50 titles in 2007. Looking back, it is actually a rather sad scenario as the Thai film industry had great promises, producing movies such as NANG NAK, THE LEGEND OF SURIYOTHAI, BANG RAJAN, etc. and the entry of very talented directors which formed what is considered now as the Thai New Wave. Instead, the Thai industry succumbed to pure commercialism and started to produce B grade horror and action movies and the very upbeat feeling begin to fade, and hopes for greater movies from Thailand begin to disappear, despite such efforts by reputable production companies such as Sahamongkol Films, GTH and Five Star who have consistently in the past supported good quality movie making.

However, putting aside the local Thai movies, the general cinema market remains upbeat as with the situation here in Malaysia, with significant increases in the total number of admission, 32.65 million in 2006 compared to aout 27.00 million in 1996, a more than 20% increase and the trend is still going upwards. In terms of number of cinema screens, it is standing at about 670 screens in 2006 compared to a mere 268 screens in 1996. Again, the trend is still going upwards. In short, the total cinema market looks upbeat despite the rather lackluster local industry.

I have mentioned about the positive outlook at around 1997/1998 and the general positive feeling that the Thai film industry is going places. This follows the new blood of directors who are formally in advertising and brought with them new perspective and ideas that fueled the boom. Forefront in this movement is Nonzee Nimbutr, whose movie DANG BAILEY AND THE YOUNG GANGSTERS (1997) and Pen-Ek Ratanaruang’s FUN BAR KARAOKE reset the industry by not only directing movies of artistic quality that is praised by film critics around the world, they also set box office records. This inspired a new blood of filmmakers and other talents from advertising such as Oxide Pang, Wisit Sasanatieng who made his mark with very colourful movies such as TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER and CITIZEN DOG and Apitchatpong Weerasethakul, the baby of art cinema.

Api’s (as he is known) movies do not really appeal to the general audience, not only because his movies are considered slow but because the Thai cinema goers have become addicted to B grade horror, action and comedy flicks and considered Api’s movies more suitable for arthouse cinemas and film festivals. Api’s first big time success comes in the form of TROPICAL MALADY which became the first Thai movie that went to Cannes and won the Jury award at that. His works continue to make waves at film festivals but at the same time, still under-appreciated by his own compatriots.

Anyways, despite the recent disappointments, the Thai film industry is still far from gone and if you ask me, that industry is definitely still more solid than our Malaysian film industry. In fact, relatively speaking, the Thai film industry is the most solid among the film industries in South East Asia with a healthy domestic film share of about 30% plus minus plus a reasonable export market. The year 2007 also saw big movie projects such as the KING NARESUAN trilogy as well as Nonzee Nimbutr’s QUEEN OF LANGKASUKA which is due for release this year. The other new wave directors have also come out with some great movies, such as Pen-Ek’s PLOY and Api’s SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY. Moving forward still, one of the new Thai directors Aditya Assarat has shown promise by winning the Best Film award at the Pusan Film Festival with his directorial debut WONDERFUL YEARS.

In conclusion, the Thai film industry is still far from dead and by the looks of it, great times can still come from the Thais. However, like many of their Malaysian colleagues, the Thai filmmakers are also struggling with outdated censorship laws (dated back in 1931) despite many protests by directors such as Apichatpong, Wisit and Pen-Ek and if nothing is done to correct this, it will only serve as a barrier to the industry’s growth.

Some Thai movies that I will recommend:

Apichatpong Weerasethakul: TROPICAL MALADY, BLISSFULLY YOURS, SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY

Wisit Sasanatieng: TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER, CITIZEN DOG

Pen-Ek Ratanaruang: FUN BAR KARAOKE, SIXTY9, MONRAK TRANSISTOR, LAST LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE